[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Taylor Pankratz, and this is behind the breakaway. Together with my co host, Jason Barber, this show takes you behind the scenes of leaving your captive broker dealer firm and explores the world of RIA independence.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: All opinions expressed on the podcast by the hosts and guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of uptick partners. This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice and should not be relied upon as a basis for any decisions.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: We are just coming off, having been on the Mindy diamond podcast.
What an experience.
[00:00:48] Speaker C: Truly was an honor to be on the podcast. And, you know, just speaking from Taylor and I, I know we. I mean, how many hours of podcasts do you think? I think we were episode 253. And I think I've listened to at least 100.
[00:01:01] Speaker A: Well, I would always kind of. I would always search the, uh, their podcast database for anything that said, uh, Edward Jones.
[00:01:08] Speaker C: Yeah, Edward Jones. Ria.
[00:01:10] Speaker D: Right.
[00:01:10] Speaker C: But for sure, Edward Jones. It was like we wanted to listen to. And I would just sit there and. And eat up every single word of every single podcast to try to get as much perspective on this whole thing as we could.
[00:01:23] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: Because everybody's situation is unique, and everyone's telling their story about leaving from their wirehouse, and you're kind of like, well, does that really apply to me and my unique situation being where I'm at? And so we were always looking for people that had been where we were at and broke away in their specific situation, because it's very nuanced, you know?
[00:01:44] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:01:44] Speaker C: And it just seemed like there was very little of it, because it doesn't.
[00:01:49] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: People don't normally go on a podcast and talk about it.
[00:01:53] Speaker C: For some reason, people don't that. And then I just think there was.
I can't even really remember if there was anybody. I don't think there was anybody that did what we did or what we were thinking about doing. There were people that left Edward Jones that kind of did sort of. Kind of similar things, you know, but not exactly what we were doing, so. So then what ended up happening again is that you'd end up listening to. Well, this person broke away from Merrill lynch and launched their own Ra, and you're kind of like, okay, well, I'm learning from this person, but it's sort of hard to relay relate to that still, because you just don't know. Things are different. It's just a different terminology.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: I can remember vividly being, you know, we broke away, and in March of 23, I can vividly remember being on vacations, you know, in. In 2022 and listening to the diamond podcast and a various other podcasts of people was breaking away. I'd. You'd just be laying there, you know, on the beach or in your hotel room, just trying to figure out. Trying to consume as much little tidbits of how they did it and how they did it successfully. And because every one of those podcasts is. Is full of great information on how you can take what they did well and mistakes that they made and make it so, like, it's just a great learning resource. And so that's the point of this entire podcast, is, hey, we were hungry for information about how to leave our captive broker dealer firm. This is a great resource for you to.
[00:03:27] Speaker C: Yeah, to just learn and to just consume and in a. In a confidential way, be able to learn and educate yourself about the industry. I think that's really what our goal is. And our desire is, you know, this podcast is not.
Certainly we want people to understand and know about what uptick partners does, but I think more than that, we're not trying to recruit everyone. Right. You know, and every single advisor from any firm anywhere. Right. We're looking for partners that really see life the same way that we see things. Like, what gets me excited about doing this podcast is the opportunity to just educate people, even if it's. Even if, at the end of the day, the person who's listening to this podcast, wherever they work, that they would be more knowledgeable about how all of this works, right, and understand the ins and outs of it. And if they decide, hey, you know what? Thought about it, understood it. Know what the difference is? I know what an RA is. And you know what? I think I'm just kind of more of an employee, and I think I like that better. And that's just what I want to do. Hey, more power to you, right?
[00:04:38] Speaker D: Right.
[00:04:38] Speaker C: More power to you. You know, but just don't live in the dark, right. Is basically the idea, because, you know, I think so many people just put blinders on and don't even understand this, and they don't realize the risks that they're facing, quite frankly.
[00:04:54] Speaker D: Right.
[00:04:54] Speaker C: And the liability by not knowing 100%.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: I mean, think of the. Think of the. What we would consider horror stories of people being fired from their captive broker dealer firm just because of, I mean, innocuous things or things that on the surface seem rather. I mean, you're kind of like you got fired from your business that you built.
[00:05:15] Speaker C: You thought you owned it. You thought that you owned it. And they tell you to act like an owner.
[00:05:21] Speaker D: Right.
[00:05:22] Speaker C: But.
[00:05:23] Speaker D: Right, yeah.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: And then you try to expense something that shouldn't be expense, and it's like, actually, you're fired.
[00:05:29] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:05:29] Speaker C: Life comes at you really fast.
[00:05:31] Speaker D: Right? Yeah.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: So you're thinking, well, okay, well, so what's the lesson there? Well, the lesson is kind of something that we've. We've said internally. I don't know if we've said on the podcast, which is, if you're going to be an employee, then you better be the best damn employee that exists. Yeah, right, exactly. You cannot risk trying to, you know, be an employee, but also maybe live a little, have a little freedom there and a little.
[00:05:59] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:05:59] Speaker C: You think, you know, like, other people have discretion, you know, or other people have this. Or independent. If I was independent, you know, I could. I could tell somebody about alternative investments and kind of offer them some education on that, or, you know, I could talk to somebody about options or teach them about that, or I could teach them about, you know, real estate investments, and maybe you even have some of your own, and you're kind of like, yeah, you might look at that, and next thing you know, it's like you're selling away from the firm, you're fired.
[00:06:30] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:06:31] Speaker C: Or next thing you know, it's, hey, I didn't have approved or this wasn't approved this way or that way or whatever. Whatever it may be. And depending on your political popularity, maybe even, uh, you know, you might get a slap on the wrist or you might be walked out the door, and. And it's just.
[00:06:53] Speaker D: It's.
[00:06:53] Speaker C: It's remarkable when you think about not just the actual. It's not even the enterprise value of the business, you know, whether that be. Call it three x, your revenue, or. Or possibly more, depending on certain circumstances. But it's not even that. There's a lot of people who have family or desires for their children to take over the business, and you start thinking about the value of that and how that could disappear. It's just.
It's a large, large amount of money that is tied to that business, and it's just, at the end of the day, you figure it out.
You think, you know, until you hear of something. Some stories, you know? So, since we've been on the diamond podcast, as you can imagine, we've had a lot of incoming communication from other advisors around the country. And one call that I got today was from a former advisor at Edward Jones who was fired. And I think. I don't remember exactly what year. Call it, you know, 1015 years ago. And so he was doing some due diligence on various firms and, you know, is Edward Jones the best place? But. But according to him, hadn't really made up his mind that, you know, like, he was for sure leaving, but just was. Was looking around.
And the way the story goes is that his boa found out. And, you know, she, I guess, was maybe worried because the firm, you know, can kind of do that to you, that somehow another if. If he left, that she might be without a job. And so she reports it to the regional leader, who reports it to the area leader, who calls this guy on a Friday and basically says something to the effect of, understand that you're thinking about leaving, to which he says no, to which they then say, I don't believe you. You're out.
[00:08:47] Speaker D: Right?
[00:08:48] Speaker C: And you hear stories like that and you're just thinking, this is. But the real crazy twist to that story is how what ended up happening is it was kind of like, yeah, you're out. Unless you want your daughter to take over, in which case you can just resign and she'll take over. You know, which is just like, I don't know, the entire concept of that whole thing happening and how that could happen. Even if you're not. You've done nothing wrong, right? You've just. You just thought about it. You just thought about it. And how that could be turned against you is just unbelievable, which.
[00:09:28] Speaker D: I don't know, man.
[00:09:29] Speaker C: I mean, it's hard to even put it into words.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: So I think it's important for people, as they explore the other options that are out there, to, of course, be extremely careful in what you.
Any communication you have anywhere that.
How these people can get a hold of you. I mean, we should tell them the story about when we went to Colorado to do our due diligence, we were going to see Pershing, b and y, Mel and Pershing. And they were kind of getting us the, you know, go out there and look at it and do the whole dog and pony show. And we really enjoyed it, and. But we wanted to stay an extra day. Person wanted us to stay for two days. I think we wanted to stay for an extra day. We wanted to go to Monday night football or something and. Or wanted to go play some golf. And so we decided we were gonna stay an extra day. Well, somehow in the, you know, the. Between the messages or between kind of us communicating with Pershing on who would pay for this third day at the hotel that we ended up. We were supposed to pay for it. We thought Pershing was covering it. Well, at the end of the day, what happened? The hotel is looking for us by name to pay this bill. They googled us, and they googled us and called us at our office and talked to the staff and said, hey, does Taylor Pankratz work there?
[00:11:02] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Well, he was in Colorado last week, and he owes us because Pershing didn't pay. Because Pershing didn't pay. They owes us a night of hotel night. And you're just kind of going, this can't possibly happen.
[00:11:16] Speaker C: It can't be real life.
[00:11:17] Speaker A: We were so careful. How could it possibly be that you. And you're going, well, you have a. You have a rogue hotel clerk that's looking to get paid. And of course they are, but these are things that you don't even think could possibly exist. And all of a sudden, the staff's going, oh, you were in Colorado with Pershing. Who's that?
Oh, that's a vendor. Oh. You know, and you're just trying to be like, please stop asking questions about.
[00:11:45] Speaker C: The reality is that the hotel shouldn't have even known my name.
[00:11:49] Speaker D: Right.
[00:11:50] Speaker C: It should just be like, it's ghost protocol.
[00:11:53] Speaker D: Right?
[00:11:54] Speaker A: I mean, it's ghost protocol.
[00:11:55] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: So, you know, that's a great segue into what's it look like? Kind of what's. What's somebody that's exploring uptick, partners exploring independence. And in an RA world, maybe they heard about us on the diamond podcast. They go to our website, they say, contact us or let's chat. They click that button and they type in their information.
What happens? Kind of walk me through. I'm filling that out.
What happens in my. Is that information? Who's seeing that information, for one thing, should I put my fake name and all that? Like, what's the level of scrutiny or kind of what should I be doing if I want to contact you guys? But I don't want to put. I don't want to be risking somebody finding out.
[00:12:43] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:12:43] Speaker C: So, I mean, I think the first answer to your question is that that information stays with us. Just me, me and you.
[00:12:50] Speaker D: Right.
[00:12:51] Speaker C: Are the only people that are seeing that information, have access to that information, know the name and phone number. Secondly, I think that what you can anticipate or expect is that we will be very, very.
Nobody in this business is more aware of the seriousness and the sensitivity and the confidentiality of this matter. Nobody's more aware of that than us. I think that what you would likely expect is some type of an email to your personal email, just asking to set up a time to visit, you know, type of a thing, and to which we would set up a time, you know, zoom at your, you know, your preference, you know, wherever. For us, most of my meetings happened, you know, from the seat, the front seat of my truck. You know, I just would leave the office. I'd go to park at the Kroger or the post office or somewhere where I could just park and sit there for a while. And that's where I did all of our.
[00:13:53] Speaker D: Where.
[00:13:54] Speaker C: Where you and I did a lot of our meetings, you know, candidly.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: So, yeah, so no one's overhearing the conversation.
[00:13:58] Speaker C: No one's overhearing the conversation. And you. You're just truly able to talk.
And so that would be sort of the first step, I would imagine, is that we would have an initial conversation where we would get to know each other and give you an opportunity to ask any questions, learn more about us and our history, etcetera. There's a lot that goes into whether you're a good fit for us more than just how much assets do you manage, etcetera. I think there's cultural fit type of business that you're on, compliance questions, et cetera. But if we think that it's potentially a good match and that we may be able to be a good fit, then I would imagine that we would send you a questionnaire that you would fill out that would give us some basic details about your business just so that we can kind of have a bit of. Of a better understanding of things like, you know, how much fee based business, how much commission business, how many asset, you know, how many accounts total, aum style preferences, et cetera. You know, things of that sort. Just, again, helping us to be able to create a pro forma and kind of build that out for you. And then. And then what we would do is we would have an on site due diligence trip, or at least this is what we would prefer to do. But ultimately, at the end of the day, I think you would agree that we will do what is most comfortable for that advisor.
[00:15:27] Speaker D: Right.
[00:15:28] Speaker C: But our objective and our goal is that we want that person to fully have a very clear understanding of what it would be like to partner with us.
[00:15:36] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:15:37] Speaker A: And so that's the beauty of the onsite kind of visit, is that they can come in, they can actually see live data, the technology live.
[00:15:47] Speaker D: Right.
[00:15:47] Speaker A: They're not going through a demo where you're on a zoom and the salesperson's telling you, well, you click here and see how this looks so good. And you're kind of like, is any of this data real, or is it, do all these cells really populate in real life? Or is this just the best this version can look? Because it's a. You're in a sales. You're in a sales environment, right? You need to be able to see the technology in our platform. You need to be able to see the technology live. You need to be able to see the cybersecurity division that we've got and go see the servers, go see the staff, the cybersecurity infrastructure that exists to make sure that your clients data is going to be secure.
Talk to the marketing team, talk to the HR benefits people.
[00:16:36] Speaker C: Talk to the PR people, transition support.
[00:16:40] Speaker A: Talk to the people that are going to be the SEAL team six, right? How am I going to break out of where I'm at to get where I need to go? And the whole time you check into the hotel, right? The whole time, nobody knows your name.
[00:16:55] Speaker C: Nobody knows your face except for the people that have to.
[00:16:59] Speaker D: Right.
[00:17:00] Speaker C: I mean, ultimately, except for you coming to sit next to me, right? Other than that, when we, when we come in and we do a Zoom meeting and we bring in, you know, the marketing team on a Zoom meeting, the. The camera is off and they're referring to you by an alias, right?
[00:17:15] Speaker D: Right.
[00:17:16] Speaker A: No, they, like, genuinely think your name is, you know, whatever we say, because that's the, that's what has to happen. You have to have that, because if you don't, all you're risking is that your entire life. I mean, really, I mean, somebody recognizes you from XYZ, and then all of a sudden, there's one more person that knows that you're looking away, that you're looking to break away, you know, wouldn't.
[00:17:40] Speaker C: You agree that one of the things that we learned is how small this community is?
[00:17:43] Speaker A: Such a small world, the RIA world.
[00:17:47] Speaker C: And really, I mean, financial advisor world in general, but certainly the RA world. These people talk to each other. These people see each other at conferences.
You know, you get one marketing person's like, oh, yeah, I'm working with this other person who's about to break away from XYZ. You know, it's kind of like, at the end of the day, that is one thing that, that I look back on and I think to myself, man, it is just truly a miracle that everything went smoothly for us because I did so many technology demos and looked at so many different things and so many people, because I didn't know and I didn't have anybody to counsel me on this? Uh, in the early days, so many people knew who I was and what the story was and the whole thing. And. And it's just really is, um. It's just really a miracle that it. That it went well. But I think that's the. The real idea is like, hey, you check into the hotel, you come to. To our town, and it's. That hotel is in my name or your name, okay?
[00:18:49] Speaker D: It's.
[00:18:49] Speaker C: It's in our company's name. The hotel doesn't need to know your name. You know, you just. You're just there. Okay. We've coined it hush protocol.
[00:18:57] Speaker D: Right?
[00:18:57] Speaker C: And I love that. I love that term. It's just at the end of the day, your goal needs to be, I'm doing this due diligence, and I'm doing this research, and I'm doing it in such a way that very, very few people on the face of this earth know that this is happening.
[00:19:15] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:19:15] Speaker A: You want somebody to take it as seriously as. As you are.
[00:19:20] Speaker D: Right?
[00:19:21] Speaker A: That's kind of the biggest problem is you go to. I'm remembering when we were. We went to do our due diligence trips to all these other, you know, Ra roll ups or to Schwab or fidelity, any of these places, and you're kind of like, does anybody really understand the risk that I'm actually taking by being here?
[00:19:38] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:19:39] Speaker A: Because do they know that if the wrong person finds out about this trip, that I could be fired? You're kind of like, I hope they do. But you, do they even understand that?
[00:19:49] Speaker D: Right?
[00:19:49] Speaker A: It's like, odds are they don't, because they don't live in that world.
[00:19:52] Speaker C: And you know why? Because if you get fired, do you think they're losing a. Losing sleep that night?
[00:19:58] Speaker D: Right?
[00:19:58] Speaker C: Do you think that they're like, is their livelihood, you know, affected at all?
[00:20:03] Speaker D: Okay, if.
[00:20:03] Speaker C: If the Schwab guy, who's this, you know, the Schwab sales guy or the fidelity sales guy or the Pershing sales guy or any of that stuff, you know?
[00:20:13] Speaker D: Right.
[00:20:13] Speaker C: I mean, somehow something goes wrong, you get fired, the RJ guy, Raymond James guy, whatever it is, you know, the end of the day, it's like they.
It's like, I don't want to say that they don't care. They do care. I think. I'm not suggesting that they're heartless or careless or any of that kind of stuff, but I don't think that they care like I care or like you care or like Steve cares. Because at the end of the day. It just boils down to, if you've not done it and you've not lived it, you've not signed the resignation letter, you've not had that fear, the fear of God, literally.
I just don't think that you can fully appreciate the seriousness of the situation. You know, it's like when we. When we picked up. When we picked up that recruit in. In, uh, in Houston, one of the very first things that I said, uh, was, listen, I hope you don't think that this is weird, but we operate in hush protocol, and so, like, this is. This is how this is going to go. Like, I'm just letting you know that this is how this is going to go. And you might think it's weird, but I'm just telling you, you should appreciate.
[00:21:21] Speaker A: The fact we don't want that on our conscience.
[00:21:23] Speaker C: Like, nobody, nobody knows more than I do, you know, and I learned, but I didn't know early on the seriousness of this whole thing.
[00:21:31] Speaker D: Right.
[00:21:31] Speaker C: I didn't know early on, but after the things that we've learned and lessons we've learned, we don't play around. It's not a hobby. It's not a hobby. You've got to be deadly serious about this stuff, because it's just like, you just can't. You cannot take anything for granted is what it boils down to.
[00:21:48] Speaker D: Right.
[00:21:49] Speaker C: So what else happens on a due diligence trip, though, right, besides hush protocol, what else is kind of happening? Like, what does that actually sort of look like? What will, you know, maybe just describe our most recent.
[00:22:01] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:22:01] Speaker A: So the most recent one is, you know, we try to do it over about a day or a day and a half. We don't want it to be this very overwhelming thing, but there is a lot of things to talk about and a lot of things to show how we're different and how it's. And how we're uniquely positioned to help them, as opposed to the other umpteen, different raas out there that are, quote unquote, offering the same thing.
[00:22:28] Speaker D: Right.
[00:22:28] Speaker A: And so how do you. How do you show that you're offering truly something different for somebody that doesn't live in this world every day? And so that takes time.
[00:22:39] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:22:39] Speaker A: And. But we try to structure it out so that each aspect of what uptick provides or the things that. That might be relevant to you and things that you might be wondering about get answered that we've kind of talked about the transition support. What does it look like for uptick to help me get out of wherever I'm at. And, like, the minutia of that, right. Not just we help you do it, but let's talk about it at great. At whatever detail that you might want to talk about it. Let's. Let's peel the onion back a little bit, because this is your time to. This is a due diligence trip.
[00:23:19] Speaker D: Right.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: This needs to be where we kind of, you know, you kind of brush away all the things that look. Make it look pretty.
[00:23:27] Speaker D: Right.
[00:23:27] Speaker A: And kind of wipe the lipstick off the pig. And let's really figure out the nitty gritty stuff. If this is. If the. If there's some substance here or if this is just a lot of salesy talk.
[00:23:37] Speaker D: Right.
[00:23:37] Speaker A: And because we were a victim of that.
[00:23:39] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:23:40] Speaker A: We were. We have been down the road where we spent six figures into a technology platform that we thought was great, and it turns out it's an abomination. And I don't even. I honestly don't even know how people use it, but we've sat on that side of the table, and so what we want to do is we want you to be able to poke holes, if you will, in the technology. Hey, how does that work? How do you do this? How do you do that? How do you do the things that you see yourself doing on a daily basis inside the technology and see how. Kind of put yourself there and see how it would look like if you.
[00:24:19] Speaker C: Literally go play some trades.
[00:24:21] Speaker A: Yeah, let's. Let's place some trades in clients accounts and show you that this is not. It's not smoke and mirrors.
[00:24:26] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: This is real data. This is real integration. This is not a sales zoom call that, you know, every. Every sales. Every sales demo I've ever been on you, it's kind of like you hit.
It's kind of like in, what's that show with, like, the Truman show, where you, like, hit the end, right?
[00:24:49] Speaker D: You.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: You hit the thing where they're like, well, this is where the demo stops, because we don't have the license, we don't have the sign on for riskalyze. But this is where it would work. It would take you. If you click this button right here, would take you to risk lies. And you're kind of like, oh, so we've hit the. We've hit the glass wall. We've hit the set. We hit the side of the movie set.
[00:25:10] Speaker D: Right.
[00:25:11] Speaker A: We can't go. We just have to use our imagination on what that could look like. That should not happen for you.
[00:25:16] Speaker C: Yeah, that's ridiculous.
[00:25:18] Speaker A: Like, why? Why should that happen? That's insane. So it doesn't need to happen. That's what we're saying.
[00:25:23] Speaker C: It's because you're talking to salespeople and not actual financial advisors.
[00:25:27] Speaker D: Right. Okay. Right.
[00:25:28] Speaker C: Not practicing advisors.
[00:25:30] Speaker D: Right.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: And so it needs to be, you really deserve to have the due diligence. Trip needs to, like, place you into the spot that you see yourself being after you break away and go, can I see myself functioning day to day as a financial advisor using this technology?
That's the technology sector. And we talked about the technologies part of it. We talked about the marketing a little bit, but I think there's a tremendous value that might be overlooked by a lot of the captive broker dealer people about the importance of having a bona fide web presence on day one cannot.
[00:26:16] Speaker C: Be stated strongly enough, and that you've got a brand, an excellent logo, the right color schemes. The talk about the difficulty that we had in just creating the content on our website originally. You know, it's like, you think about building a website and you're like, who writes all the words on this website? And how does it sound? Good. You know, like, you and I did that.
[00:26:43] Speaker D: Right?
[00:26:43] Speaker C: We did that for ours. And it's just the amount of time and effort and hours that we spent, and it just makes my head hurt. And so, but it matters. All of that stuff matters. The video, we didn't, you know, talk about the marketing videos, right? If anybody that's listening to this, go to our website and check out the work of our, of our video guy, clinton.
[00:27:04] Speaker A: Holisticplaning.com.
[00:27:05] Speaker C: Yeah, holisticplanning.com. Go check out the videos on there and, and see what we're talking about. It's, it's not, we're not, it's not a hobby for Clinton. And, and we take it really seriously.
[00:27:17] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:27:17] Speaker A: Because I think it's important that the brand.
Well, first of all, you're, you're not going to want to change the name of your company after you've announced it to the clients. You're not going to change your logo and your, all that stuff.
[00:27:29] Speaker D: Right.
[00:27:30] Speaker A: So it needs to be right the first time. And so you need to put the effort in with the marketing team to say, you know, what am I trying to have my clients feel when they see my logo? You know, there's a whole, that's a whole nother maybe podcast about, like, the, the entire marketing side that when you're, when you're at the captive broker dealer, you don't even, that's not even that part of your brain doesn't even fire.
[00:27:57] Speaker D: Right.
[00:27:58] Speaker A: Because you don't have an option to. I mean, maybe now that they let you co brand, some of these firms let you kind of co brand.
[00:28:05] Speaker D: Right.
[00:28:05] Speaker C: I mean, they're going to basically just. You're going to be so limited in what you can actually even call it, though.
[00:28:09] Speaker A: But, yeah, so, I mean, the reality is you have a bunch of advisors that need to. They've never really massaged that part of their brain in terms of how am I going to market myself? And they have all these aspirations. Well, these ideas that you've got, or maybe you don't have any ideas at all because you just aren't. You don't live in that world.
You need to have somebody that does this for breakaways specifically. And that's what they do.
[00:28:37] Speaker D: Right.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: They're not a. They're a.
They're a marketing firm for financial advisor breakaways.
[00:28:43] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:28:43] Speaker C: And these folks, they take it deadly serious. And the thing about to the timing of this whole thing and how you need to have somebody when it comes to this, that you can trust, all right? Trust perhaps the marketing people. You know, as much as we trust them, they're probably also somebody that they need to know. You know, there are some of the last people that need to know, you know, candidly, what your name is.
[00:29:07] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:29:07] Speaker C: But. But for fear of there being a mistake or something like that, you know, but, yeah, because they can actually.
[00:29:14] Speaker A: They can launch the. They can launch the rocket.
[00:29:17] Speaker D: Right.
[00:29:17] Speaker A: They. They've got. They've got the website. And you don't want that website going early. That's what we talk about. Like why they should not know exactly your real name is. Because they can the world about it.
[00:29:29] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. And then all of a sudden it's on Google and it's. It's done. Right. So. So there's got to be like. It's got to be literally like the nuclear keys.
[00:29:37] Speaker D: Right. They're kind of.
[00:29:38] Speaker C: Kind of a thing, you know, it's like you got to have two people turn the key at the same time. Kind of.
[00:29:43] Speaker A: Let's count down from three.
[00:29:44] Speaker C: Yeah, and so, yeah, but I do.
[00:29:46] Speaker A: Think that that, that whole.
It's like a. That whole dance, if you will, of the timing of that, where you're breaking away and you're launching the website and you're launching your Facebook and LinkedIn business pages and you're launching your Google, my business, that whole thing. Well, first of all, you can't do that before you break away.
[00:30:08] Speaker C: But it needs to be thus. Like, thus, I mean, I signed the resignation letter, and it's like the nuclear codes have been entered.
[00:30:15] Speaker D: Right.
[00:30:15] Speaker A: And so what's the worst thing that can happen is you as you is you either try to do that yourself and you're going, well, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to resign, and then I'm going to try to have my company email set up, and then I'm going to have to try to create my Facebook and LinkedIn and Google things so that when I start calling these people and they google it, that it actually shows up. And that takes time.
You're not going to want to do that after you resigned.
[00:30:42] Speaker C: You shouldn't be.
[00:30:43] Speaker A: You're going to want to start figuring out who your clients were and start calling them. And so that is something that, it's like that little minutia where you're thinking, oh, I didn't even think about, I can't create my Facebook page before I break away. So when does that get created?
[00:31:02] Speaker C: And then what does the logo look like on there? Does it look professional?
[00:31:06] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:31:06] Speaker A: Is it blurry?
[00:31:07] Speaker C: Do I have a headshot?
[00:31:08] Speaker A: Is it blurry?
[00:31:10] Speaker C: Is my headshot the same headshot that I used at my previous firm?
[00:31:13] Speaker D: Right.
[00:31:14] Speaker C: Or is it like. No, it's actually a very professionally done, high quality headshot, et cetera.
[00:31:19] Speaker A: You know, is it take two weeks for my company's name to show up on Google when clients google it? I mean, is there a story in.
[00:31:27] Speaker C: The news.
[00:31:30] Speaker A: Wealth management.com.
[00:31:31] Speaker C: Is there a story in the front page of your newspaper, at your hometown newspaper? All of these kinds of things that just, it all adds to that legitimacy factor of this is, this is real. So that's where we will guide you through and introduce you to people that are experts in this.
[00:31:50] Speaker A: Or you're like, I want to put a billboard up. Yeah, well, guess like, we would know that is not an overnight thing.
[00:31:56] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:31:57] Speaker D: Right.
[00:31:57] Speaker A: And someone's got to design that. Someone's got to get the contract with the, with the billboard, all these things. You do not want to be dealing with them, but they're very, very important. And so how do you prioritize it? Well, the idea is that you let other people that are. This is what they do, do that and run with it, and they're gonna do it a hundred percent, a hundred times better than you're gonna have a team.
[00:32:20] Speaker C: You need a team of people. You need SEAL team six, right? I mean, that's. That's why we call it Seal team six.
[00:32:25] Speaker A: Unless you're like an advisor that's really good at Photoshop, and, you know, all these things you. You're not wanting to spend time doing.
[00:32:33] Speaker C: That, but even then, you should. Even if you were good at it, it's just, like, you. You can't do. That is not the most productive use of your time.
[00:32:43] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:32:43] Speaker A: What, can you outsource somebody creating a logo for you or calling your clients?
[00:32:47] Speaker C: Exactly. Yeah. So. So we do. So let's see. We do the transition, and then we do the marketing, and then we. I think we did compliance maybe after that, which I think was really, really eye opening. Eye opening, big time.
You know, so we love our compliance folks.
[00:33:05] Speaker A: It's almost great because I love seeing people's brains explode, kind of like ours did when we first realized. Wait a second. So you don't have to do an annual review for every client, like rain or shine. What if they don't want one? Too bad. You got to do it. Or what happens if I don't do it? Well, you don't get paid. Like, that's insane. It is, but that's the world that we lived in.
And watching people's reaction when you tell them, no, you don't. Like, that doesn't. That's not a requirement. Like, that's not an sec thing.
[00:33:41] Speaker D: Right?
[00:33:41] Speaker C: I don't have to do a retirement plan for my client. Like, they don't have to have a retirement plan. That's not a thing. Because maybe I've got a guy that's got $10 million and is not going to ever run out of money or.
[00:33:53] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:33:53] Speaker C: Or maybe they just don't care or not interested in that. Maybe they're never going to retire.
[00:33:58] Speaker D: Oh.
[00:33:59] Speaker A: They want to own a whole bunch of, you know, oil stocks in their account, and then. But this, you know, inherently compliance based on account by account.
[00:34:08] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:34:09] Speaker C: I mean, it really is rebalancing by account by account versus by, you know, by the household. Oh, man. This one. This one position makes up 50% of this account, but it's 5% of their overall portfolio, so it's no big deal. But previously, it would have been a big deal. All these kinds of things that you just. It's.
[00:34:27] Speaker D: It's.
[00:34:28] Speaker C: But it's like, I can say it, but it's not the same thing for me to say it as the person who's an expert at this and been doing it for 30 years and can really convey this is kind of why being regulated as a fee only advisor is better. And this is what this looks like day in and day out. This is what it looks like, for you as an advisor, in a fee only RIA.
[00:34:50] Speaker D: Right.
[00:34:51] Speaker C: So we do that maybe for 30 to 60 minutes. And then I think after that, did HR. No, I think what we did next is we did lunch and we did lunch and then candid Boa conversations, which was really, I thought, possibly one of the best parts of. Of the whole thing, you know, because, I mean, if you're an advisor and you're. And you're leaving and you take our advice and you don't talk to your staff again, hear me out, please. Please don't talk to your staff. Please don't. It's just better for everybody if you don't. And. But it's good, I think, to be able to have conversations with people that have been in those people's chairs, too.
[00:35:33] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:35:33] Speaker C: And hear from them of, like, how difficult it was to be honest, you know, and what they liked, what they didn't like, all of that conversation.
[00:35:44] Speaker A: What's going to, what should you say? What's going to kind of help, maybe help them decide to move with you, you know, just.
I do agree that's a very important aspect of why. But why is that important? It's because it's. This is something that not every other firm out there can sit there and put two former boas in front of you and go ask them questions.
And then what do we do after that?
[00:36:15] Speaker C: Then I think we did HR. I think, if memory serves me correctly, I think it was HR. And so that was also really very, very cool and very insightful, I thought, to be able to hear and just learning more about what we have in this enterprise level solution that we can offer for that, because especially for yourself and for your staff, you want this to, you know, you're going from Fortune 500 firm to nothing burger, right? And there needs to be this feeling of, hey, we've got benefits, we've got a 401k, we've got payroll. There's a mobile app that you can see your paycheck, and it's going to be deposited on time.
[00:36:56] Speaker A: Track your ptO.
All this needs to feel. Yeah, this needs to feel like an upgrade.
[00:37:02] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.
[00:37:03] Speaker A: How can you go from.
[00:37:05] Speaker C: And that's already just protection, too, of, like, well, how do I protect myself from wrongful termination lawsuits or do I have insurance? I mean, all these things that you just. You don't think about. People don't think about when they think I'm gonna go independent. Like, they don't think.
[00:37:21] Speaker A: They've never had to because they've been employees.
[00:37:24] Speaker C: They've been employees or, you know, if they go to some other employee firm, well, they're still an employee.
[00:37:30] Speaker D: Right.
[00:37:30] Speaker C: Or even if you're 1099, I would imagine if you're, you know, part of a bigger firm, you know, they're, they may do some of that stuff for you or give you some resources, but when you're, but then there's drawbacks to that.
[00:37:39] Speaker D: Right.
[00:37:40] Speaker C: Because now you don't have the same level of control that you do in the RA space. So you want the control of the RA space, but it's like, man, you got to figure all this stuff out if you don't have us to help you with it. And so that's the idea of what we're trying to do is to make it just a little bit easier for you, you know, and, but still give you that control and that freedom.
[00:38:02] Speaker D: Right.
[00:38:03] Speaker A: You need access to benefits, but if you've got a staff of, it's you and a staff of two, good luck.
[00:38:09] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:38:09] Speaker D: Right.
[00:38:10] Speaker A: You've got to have some level of association or access to somebody that, that can give you benefits to your staff at a level that they're going to be proud of and that you're going to be proud of and that are going to be comparable to what they're used to or else when you ask them to come with you and they have all these questions and you just tell them, well, we'll figure, don't, like, just, we'll figure that out. That's not going to make them feel very confident that you know what you're even doing. I mean, we've seen, we've even seen that you'll have an advisor leave and their staff might follow them. But it could be a, it could be a couple weeks. Well, why is it a couple weeks? Because they want to make sure that it's going to be okay.
[00:38:56] Speaker D: Right.
[00:38:57] Speaker A: Because they don't have these answers to these questions of what happens with my health benefits. I mean, I've got to, I've got to go to the doctor next week for something that I need to have benefits for. What do you. Well, we'll get that figured out. Well, I can't go a week or two without benefits because I have a family.
[00:39:14] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:39:15] Speaker A: And you're kind of like, I really wish you would move today because I need your help. It's like, you got to have this stuff figured out. It's not okay. It's not good enough to go. Well, we'll figure it out. We promise. And if, if, God forbid, something happens, like you have to have insurance yeah.
[00:39:30] Speaker C: It needs to be like, you've got a question. Here's the 1800 number. Call them right now.
[00:39:33] Speaker A: Yeah. Actually, when you say you want to move with me, you'll get an email to enroll.
[00:39:38] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:39:39] Speaker A: And on board and enroll in our company. And you can sign up for benefits today.
[00:39:43] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:39:44] Speaker A: So, I mean, these are things that you've got to do. Okay, so that's HR.
[00:39:48] Speaker C: Then we had cybersecurity, which I thought was great. I think it was great, too.
[00:39:52] Speaker A: I mean, the SEC being putting a significant, like, a spotlight on making sure that you're doing everything you can do from a cybersecurity perspective to avoid the risk, even so much as mandating that your vendors are following the SEC protocols in terms of cybersecurity. So, you know, making sure that we have to make sure that our technology stack, that those people are not mismanaging or mishandling our clients.
[00:40:25] Speaker C: Because we're responsible.
[00:40:26] Speaker A: Because we're responsible.
[00:40:27] Speaker D: Right.
[00:40:27] Speaker A: So it's important. And if you're going to go out there and do it yourself, this is a. This is an important aspect of making sure that something as simple as, what if somebody steals my laptop?
Well, you need to be able to. You need to be. You need to have a contingency or something that happens. When that happens, like, does it get remotely wiped? What happens? Is there anything actually stored on that or is actually stored on a server somewhere else and there's nothing actually on the computer?
[00:40:54] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:40:55] Speaker C: Or what if they have my laptop and my password? Oh, well, is there two factor authentication?
[00:40:59] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:41:00] Speaker C: I mean, it with all of these kinds of things that it matters, you know, and, and so, so nackspace, you know, is. Is incredible. And shout out to nackspace, but such an incredible thing to be able to go there and see this in person. And not just the cybersecurity element of it, but the. Also just the, the it setup. You know, you think about. I go back to our breakaway and thinking about you remember how we couldn't figure out how do you find these high speed printers? And how do you get one? You know, you don't go to Walmart to buy a high speed, 40 pages per minute printer.
[00:41:37] Speaker D: Right.
[00:41:38] Speaker A: And where are you getting that thing shipped to? And how are you getting that thing installed in the middle of the night.
[00:41:42] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:41:43] Speaker A: Or that thing getting shipped to your house and you're going to put in the back of your truck and get it. It's like these little things. You're like, how do I get that installed in my office?
[00:41:49] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:41:50] Speaker C: So, I mean, our story, which I won't. I mean, I'm still sensitive about it. But, you know, our story is, like, we had to find a guy to install some technology. We pay whatever, you know, 510 thousand dollars, and we get, you know, junk printers show up, and then it's just kind of like, that's just money down the toilet, right? But it's just, it is what it is. But you just, like, but you can't, you can't call the Xerox company, you know, and say, hey, I'm about to quit. I need you to bring me some xeroxes. Please don't tell anybody.
[00:42:19] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:42:20] Speaker C: It just doesn't work, you know? And, and so, you know, it's just.
[00:42:24] Speaker A: Not in a small town.
[00:42:25] Speaker C: Not in a small town, that's for sure. Exactly. You know, and even in a big town, you just, again, you can't take that risk. And, uh, and so that's one of those things where, hey, our it people, they got you.
[00:42:37] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:42:38] Speaker C: They got you. They, you know, it's literally like, it's, it's, it's, you know, hush protocol. SEAL team six shows up, installs. We've got a blueprint of your office location, where you're gonna be, where do you want your computers? How do you want it installed? Cybersecurity setup, printer here, printer there. How many laptops already set up? With Microsoft office ready to go.
[00:42:59] Speaker D: Right.
[00:43:00] Speaker C: Phones are working, Internet's working, all of that stuff. And then you think, like, Internet, Internet, how do I actually get that set up without calling? Who's going to do that?
You know, who's going to call the Internet company and set up the Internet? And how am I going to get.
[00:43:16] Speaker A: A phone number or how long does that take? How long there?
[00:43:19] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:43:20] Speaker C: And so all of that stuff, it's done. It's done.
[00:43:23] Speaker D: Right.
[00:43:23] Speaker C: We've already got it figured out. It's done. And we can help you do it too. And so that's what the whole tour.
[00:43:29] Speaker A: For the breakaway, and also that's on breakaway to get you set up for breakaway day, but also just as you're doing day to day financial advisor and running an office.
[00:43:40] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:43:41] Speaker A: You know, a lot of these people aren't, they're not it wizards.
[00:43:44] Speaker D: Right.
[00:43:45] Speaker A: They need somebody that if my staff is having a problem with their computer, that they can call somebody and either get a computer the next day, overnight it, or they can fix it over the phone and remote in.
[00:43:58] Speaker C: That's the idea. It's, and so the tour there was incredible, and I think we came back after that, went over the pro forma, you know, so we kind of went through in great detail exactly what the financial terms would be and answered questions about that. And, and, and then we went to dinner. Is that pretty much?
[00:44:17] Speaker D: Yeah, kind of.
[00:44:18] Speaker A: And so that's, you know, what we're wanting to, you know, like Jason said alluded to earlier, we don't anticipate that we're a good fit for every single person that's out there exploring their options. What we know that we're a good fit for is people that want to be in the Ria space because they only want to move their book once, and they know that they want to grow. They want to, they're going to grow the most in the Ra space, and they're willing to not have a pit stop at the IBD channel first.
[00:44:53] Speaker D: Right.
[00:44:53] Speaker A: So if you want to be in the Ra channel and you want the freedom that that allows, you just want some support to not have to figure out all these minutia things by yourself.
That's, and you kind of in that, like that mindset. Plus you see life the way that we see it. You kind of have the same values and culture that we have because we're very protective of the culture.
[00:45:20] Speaker D: Right.
[00:45:21] Speaker A: We're trying to build a firm with a culture that we can be proud of, very similar to kind of the culture that we were coming from before they. Before it kind of took a turn for the worst.
[00:45:37] Speaker D: Right.
[00:45:37] Speaker A: And so we're trying to reinvent the.
[00:45:39] Speaker C: Culture that the partnership culture and the, you know, just the apple pie, christian conservative, just good, high, like, values.
[00:45:52] Speaker D: Right, right.
[00:45:53] Speaker C: Value system. The same value system. And I would also add that the type of person that we're looking for is an entrepreneur.
[00:46:00] Speaker D: Right.
[00:46:01] Speaker C: They're a problem solver. They're an entrepreneur. They're not looking to have somebody else solve all their problems. You know, they're, they're problem solvers. And they don't necessarily have to have some, you know, huge back office because guess what? You got a huge back office. You got a huge bill for that.
[00:46:20] Speaker D: Okay?
[00:46:21] Speaker C: And so, you know, so you don't need. And you don't need it.
[00:46:24] Speaker D: Right.
[00:46:25] Speaker C: That's the other thing, too, is like, what are they going to do? What are they really going to do for you if you have a big, huge back office? You know, I think what you're going to find is that you're paying a whole, for a whole bunch of stuff that 95% of the time you don't need it. And so, so really being kind of a, you know, more in that RIA entrepreneurial mindset is the type of person that we're really looking for. And somebody that wants control, they want to control it. They just don't want to have to reinvent every little single detail that we've already figured it out. All the painstaking stuff, all the lessons that we've learned, all the money that we've wasted. They don't want to have to make those same mistakes.
[00:47:02] Speaker D: Right.
[00:47:03] Speaker C: So they're just going to join us. You know, and, and I really, truly believe that, you know, the economics at the end of the day is it's not going to be that much different economically, you know, in money, in your pocket to do it yourself versus join us, really don't, because it's not.
[00:47:20] Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:47:21] Speaker A: And so if that, if anything that we said today resonates with you, if anything, you're listening to this on your way to work or when you're going to sleep, if any of this is going, you know what? I should at least have a conversation with those guys. Because just to explore if this could possibly, possibly be a good fit, go to our website, uptickpartners.com. There's a little button in the top, right, that says, let's talk. Fill in your information. You can put a fake name, we don't care. Just put a real email address so that when we reach out to you, you get it. And then we'll set up a time to talk and, and we'll kind of go from there. But that's a great way to start the conversation. And like I said, one thing we can promise you is you're never gonna, this won't feel salesy. T this should not, this will not feel salesy to you.
[00:48:11] Speaker D: Right.
[00:48:11] Speaker A: We're gonna tell you exactly what we think and how it is, and then hopefully, we think that, that maybe that aligns with you and maybe it doesn't. But we're not gonna, we're not going to sugarcoat anything and make you think that, uh, it's better than it is.
[00:48:26] Speaker D: Right.
[00:48:27] Speaker A: We're going to tell you exactly how it is. And that's something that, um, you know, you should appreciate, because in this world, when you're looking to break away, 95% of the people you meet are just trying to sell you something, right, their technology or join them, because it's going to be rainbows and butterflies, and that's what you're not, you're not going to get that from us. Um, and so, because we respect you too much to do that to you, and so, um, because we can relate.
[00:48:53] Speaker C: And we know the seriousness of what you're thought, what you're thinking about doing.
[00:48:58] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:48:59] Speaker A: It's a big deal. And so we don't want. We certainly don't want to have on our conscience anything that's gonna get you fired or anything like that. Right?
[00:49:07] Speaker D: We.
[00:49:08] Speaker A: We don't want. We can't live with ourselves that.
[00:49:10] Speaker C: That happens.
[00:49:10] Speaker A: So, um. So, anyways, go to the website, check us out, and reach out if any of this is of interest to you, and smash that. Smash that subscribe button.
[00:49:21] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. Subscribe. Listen to find us on YouTube. Apple Podcast.
[00:49:27] Speaker D: That's right. All right. All right.
[00:49:29] Speaker C: That's a wrap.
[00:49:31] Speaker A: Thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast. Please subscribe to our channel. You can find more of our episodes on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple podcasts. And check us
[email protected], where you can learn more about how we help breakaway advisors, just like yourself, find independence.
